I've been tagged with the Software Development meme, courtesy of Andy Leonard. And, we're off!
How old were you when you first started programming?
I was 13 years old in the eighth grade. I took an Introduction to Programming class with an amazing teacher. Thanks to Mr. Creasy, I've been hooked ever since.
How did you get started in programming?
My father was a computer programmer, so I guess I come by it naturally. I used to help my teachers work their classroom computers in elementary school, and then tried my hand at programming in middle school.
What was your first language?
BASIC. Not VB.Net. Not Visual Basic. Just BASIC. How many Millennials can say that? ;)
What was the first real program you wrote?
Hello world... Or something along those lines that was pretty simple.
What languages have you used since you started programming?
BASIC, C++, Java, C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, T-SQL, MDX... others I'm sure...
What was your first professional programming gig?
My first job was a consultant at a custom software development firm. I was fortunate enough to dabble in all sorts of different languages, but the first project that was entirely my own was creating Reporting Services reports to analyze sales data. Do you think they knew something about where I'd end up? ;)
If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?
Definitely. I originally fell in love with programming because of the logic. A + B = C and such... With time, I realized that programming is more of an art. Who knows what my next revelation on programming will be?
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
You can't know everything. Always learn and always ask questions. If you think you know everything and you have nothing left to learn, find another job.
What’s the most fun you’ve ever had ... programming?
Hmm… college all nighters with copious amounts of mountain dew and loud music… Working on teams of people where everyone just meshes and the final program is just beautiful… That final “Ah ha” moment when something just clicks… Oh, I can’t decide!
Who are you calling out?
Trying to find people on my blog list that haven't yet been tagged!
Tom, an attendee at last weekend’s SQLSaturday Olympia , asked me how to refresh a spreadsheet from within SQL Server Integration Services. My first thought was to turn on the connection’s “Refresh data when opening the file” option in the spreadsheet itself and avoid the situation entirely; however, this may not always be a viable solution. Here are the steps to perform the refresh from within an SSIS package. First, ensure that Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel is registered in the GAC. If not, install the 2007 Microsoft Office system Primary Interop Assemblies . This will need to be done on any machine where you plan on running this package. Next, create a script task in your SSIS package that contains the following code (include your spreadsheet name): Imports System Imports System.Data Imports System.Math Imports Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel Public Class ScriptMain Public Sub Main() Dts.TaskResult = Dts.Results.Success Dim excel...
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